


Disney Dreams Come True

by MerMagicAnaLily



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Animal Kingdom, Butler T.J., Disney Cast Member AU, F/M, Happily Ever After Fireworks!, Haunted Mansion Butler, Hollywood Studios, Hyperion Frozen Marty, Indiana Jones Marty, Jungle Cruise Skipper, M/M, Magic Kingdom, Photopass, Photopass Buffy, Skipper Cyrus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2020-12-09 15:23:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20997026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerMagicAnaLily/pseuds/MerMagicAnaLily
Summary: “Hello, hello, and welcome to the Jungle Cruise, my name is Skipper Cyrus, and I will be your guide into the treacherous waters that we will face ahead. Please make your way, all the way into the boat, and sit yourself on a lovely seat as we start off our journey in beautiful sunshiny Florida, where it’s summer all the time, and during the summer, it’s worse.” Cyrus smiled and watched all the people slowly file into his boat, Amazon Annie, and grateful that he wasn’t on Ganges Gertie with the broken PA system that hissed and gave out loud feedback as he spoke. He saw a blonde guy with a gelled back haircut get in with a blonde girl and make their way to the front seat in the middle, sitting on the fake crate. He smiled at them, and the guy smiled back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to thank Dumb-Binch-Juice on Tumblr for supporting and screaming support at me while I wrote this, and giving me some background/side characters. Her basketball boys will live on forever.

“Hello, hello, and welcome to the Jungle Cruise, my name is Skipper Cyrus, and I will be your guide into the treacherous waters that we will face ahead. Please make your way, all the way into the boat, and sit yourself on a lovely seat as we start off our journey in beautiful sunshiny Florida, where it’s summer all the time, and during the summer, it’s worse.” Cyrus smiled and watched all the people slowly file into his boat, Amazon Annie, and grateful that he wasn’t on Ganges Gertie with the broken PA system that hissed and gave out loud feedback as he spoke. He saw a blonde guy with a gelled back haircut get in with a blonde girl and make their way to the front seat in the middle, sitting on the fake crate. He smiled at them, and the guy smiled back. 

Once everyone was settled in, he got the okay from his coordinator and Cyrus started moving the little boat. “Alright, welcome again, in case you didn’t hear me because you were too busy wrangling dangerous creatures like alligators, tarantulas, or small children,” everyone let out a chuckle, making Cyrus’s heart soar. “My name is Skipper Cyrus. A little about me, I’m a film student at UCF, I make terrible life decisions, and I’m hoping that I’m finally going to get through a cruise without sinking the boat. Now, the first thing I’d like everyone to do is look out your right side,” everyone did, seeing the line that most of them already waited through to get on the boat. “Now raise your hand…” they followed his directions, frowning in confusion. “And wave goodbye to all the people there! You’ll never see them again!” Everyone burst out laughing and Cyrus saw the green eyes of the blonde boy twinkle. He hoped to see that again. 

“As everybody knows, on every reputable cruise, should an emergency arise, a captain will always go down with his ship. What’s your name sir?” He held the radio out to the blonde guy, who leaned in and said. 

“T.J.”

“Everybody give it up to Captain T.J.!!!” The blonde girl elbowed him while everyone laughed. “And the captain seems to be celebrating something, what does that say on your button? They never taught us how to read here in the middle of the jungle.”

Cyrus pointed at T.J.’s green button with sharpie scrawled on. “It says I’m celebrating being the 1000th Happy Haunt. Even dead people need butlers.” Everyone laughed as well and Cyrus’s heart did a backflip. He worked here?

“One thousand, that’s more than the types of venomous snakes we have here on the cruise, all of them in the crates above the boat. Don’t worry, they never attack a moving target, and this boat always moves.” He purposefully made the boat stop and pretended to fiddle with it terrified while making hissing noises over the intercom. People laughed again. He got the boat moving again. “Close call there folks. It’s T.J.’s fault. He is the captain. He’s trying to add more Happy Haunts!”

T.J. smiled at him and Cyrus smiled back, watching T.J. take out his phone and take pictures. “Be sure to get my good side. Just kidding, all three hundred and sixty degrees of me are ugly.” The boat awed and one girl in the back said he was handsome like a prince. “A prince? Really? Like the one who fell in love with Belle before the transformation sequence, right?” 

“Well enough self-deprecating jokes...just kidding, you’ll hear them more and more through the ride. Who can say ‘coping mechanism?’” The laughs were starting to act more like background noise for him because he had to force himself to look at other people that the really attractive blonde in front of him. “First off, we’ll start by going on the Amazon River in South America. Now, how many have seen the Jungle Book?” A few hands raised. “Well...there it is!” He pointed at a sculpture of a book on top of a crate between the trees. “It can get a little stale at times though. Oh, and ladies and gentlemen, you’re in for a treat, right over there, is an Amazonian Monarch Butterfly,” he pointed at the really fake looking animatronic of a butterfly flapping its wings. “Their wingspan can range from one foot to a whopping 12 inches,” everyone laughed except T.J., until the blonde girl whispered something into his ear and then he let out a chuckle. “They really are the ‘rulers’ of the Amazon.”

“Fun fact about the Amazon,” he said, continuing his spiel as he kept turning the fake wheel of the boat. “It rains 365 days a year in the Amazon rainforest, so if you’re visiting from Florida, expect to experience dry weather for the first time in your lives. Now coming up here on the left is Inspiration Falls. Fun fact, it’s named that because it’s ‘inspired’ several people to go ...further into the jungle! What did you think I was going to say?” 

“I bet they’re more an inspiration to Pampers,” T.J. mumbled to the blonde girl and Cyrus had to turn off his mic to snort a little laugh. T.J. looked proud at the fact he made the skipper laugh. 

“Now we’re making our way into Africa, the Congo river is where some people in the camp have decided to settle in. I’ve assembled a huge welcome party for us all, invited all of my friends, they’re all funnier than I am so you got the short end of the stick here…huh…” they passed by an obviously fake set of canoes and spears with skulls on them. “They all bailed on me! This is worse than my Bar Mitzvah! Do you know how hard it is to lift yourself on a chair?” Everyone awed in fake pity. “I can’t see anyone! Canoe?

“Okay, moving on!” He said over the laughing of his corny jokes, half scripted and half made up by him. “And...oh my god! A python! Captain T.J.! Do something!” The blonde girl started shoving T.J. forward and he laughed, pulling her in front of him. “Don’t worry, they’re quite friendly, though they quickly develop a crush on you. Great huggers though. 

“Now I hope you guys don’t mind if we stop by my camp for a second...hey!” There were animatronics of gorillas playing with items in a tent while an upside car had one solitary spinning wheel on the sand. “I need to stop getting coworkers like these...always monkeying around! Just kidding, but if I do live them alone, they do tend to go ape sh-oot! I keep forgetting this is supposed to be a family friendly cruise! Good news is they fixed my Jeep! I had the hardest time getting it to turn over.

“And we finally made it onto the Nile River in Africa! It is the longest river in Africa because it goes for Niles and Niles and Niles and if you don’t believe me, you’re in de-Nile. And Over there is an African elephant, and Captain T.J., do you know how we know it’s an African elephant?”

“Because of the ears?” He guessed, shrugging. 

“Well, we have an easier way. Where is the Nile?”

The whole boat shouted back “Africa!” 

“Therefore African elephant,” he said with a little laugh. “Don’t worry, everybody falls for that one. And over there is a giant rock formation! Don’t take it for granite though. And look over there! A rare sight!” There were animatronics of lions roaring and a statue of a zebra lying down. “That zebra over there is being protected by a pride of lions...though no rainbows...so that’s weird.” Only half the boat laughed, thankfully T.J. was one of them. The half that didn’t laugh looked at him with a disappointed, almost angry look. Cryus turned around to look forward and inwardly rolled his eyes. 

“Oh my goodness folks! Right up ahead! There’s my campmates!” On a post, a rhino was poking the butts of several scared looking explorer animatronics, all of them clinging onto the post in various heights looking scared. “I did warn them that rhinos could run up to thirty miles and hour and not to provoke them...seems like they got the point in the end at least…” he turned back around with his Disney smile and fake steering the boat again. 

“Now folks, we gotta be very careful around here on the Jungle Cruise...danger is lurking around every corner! Oh hey! There are my crocodile friends!” He pointed at the animatronics of two crocodiles opening and closing their mouths. “I call that one Smiley and…hey! Tick-Tock! Peter Pan is several miles that-a-way! You can’t let Captain Hook relax! And right in front of our escaped alligators...because let's be honest with ourselves, nobody really knows the difference between a crocodile and an alligator, is the bottomless, beautiful, powerful, dangerous, but not cold Schweitzer Falls. It’s named after the famous African explorer Dr. Albert…Falls...don’t worry about that guys we’ll go over it later. 

“Now several people have asked me how I landed the gig as a skipper on the Jungle Cruise, well...like that!” He pointed at the back end of a crashed plane lying in between the trees. “You could say it was a bit turbulent. I took a crash course, but now I’m just winging it.” Cyrus had to remind himself not to get lost in T.J.’s eyes and to look at other guests. Thankfully not many kids were on his boat this time so they weren’t feeling ignored. 

“Oh no...guys...seems like we’re approaching a pool of hippos...and they seem pretty dangerous! If they bite down, they can easily sink this boat! Well, I’m not letting that happen...again...I think I’ll try scaring them off...I’ve got some tricks I tried from my last relationship though.” 

He unclipped his water bottler and squirted water in his eyes and made it look like he was crying. “Here we go…I LOVE YOU!” He shouted at one hippo, then ran over to the other end of the boat. “I WANT A COMMITMENT!” He ran back to the other side again. “HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU WANT?!” Then they sailed past the scene. “See. Told you it worked...it’s only sad if you let it be sad. Or it can be a life lesson...good news folks, I’m single and ready to mingle. Who’s in?” Everyone laughed. “I got the same result at single’s night...and my last four dates...oops.” Everyone laughed again, the ones angry about the gay joke seeming to get over it. 

“Now we’re not out of the woods just yet...we’re getting into head hunter territory...which is a terrible place to be-headed...but seems like they’re friendly today because they’re singing and dancing around in circles!” He gestured to the animatronics of natives dancing around in the trees. “Seems like they forgot how to square dance! I wonder what they’re celebrating toda-Oh god everyone get down! Get down!” There were sounds of darts blowing and landing in wood. “T.J.! You’re the captain! Protect us!” 

“Stop using me to bail you out!” He joked back. 

“I’m a Skipper! I always take advantage of the bail system!” They drove past it and Cyrus popped back up. “A little legal humor for the adults of the audience. So if you’re under the age of 13...explain it to your parents please, they need all the help they can get.”

“Oh no...it seems we’re going into some temple type place...I’m scared...T.J.! You gotta lead us out, I’m just gonna…” he ducked down behind the wheel and closed his eyes, moving the steering wheel erratically behind him as they navigated the dark temple with creepy music. T.J. had to cover his face with his hand to mask his own laughing. Finally they passed the last scene of the temple. “Is it over?”

“Yes,” T.J. laughed. Cyrus frowned skeptically, then looked at a little girl right across from him. 

“Is he telling the truth?” The little girl laughed and nodded and Cyrus popped back up. “And just in time for the elephant wading pool and whoa!” He put his hand over the little girl’s eyes. “Looks like there’s a full moon, folks! Somebody pull that elephant’s pants up! Now...most people think that it’s water coming out of the elephant’s trunk but...it’snot…” he said that quickly with a head tilt. 

“And we’re tearing the end of the tour meaning we get to have a little hello with our very own Trader Sam! He is our Head trader in the jungle, and he’s got a great deal going on, two of his heads for one of yours! Either way, you come out a-head,” he said waving at the animatronic of a bowing man with an umbrella and shrunken heads. “And now up ahead you’ll see a dock to your left and a dock to your right, we like to call that, a pair-a-docks,” he heard a final round of laughs. “And that’s it for today, congratulations for making it out alive, my odds are now twenty-five to one.” Please make your way out when the boat makes a full and complete stop, and you see my friend Iris there, we’re gonna say ‘Thank you Iris,’ as we make our way out!”

Everyone clapped for him and he gave an awkward bow in his little Jungle Cruise jumpsuit, and T.J. hung back a little. “You know…” he said. “I start giving tours of the mansion tomorrow…”

“Do you now,” he said with a smile. “I suppose I’ll see you if I meet an untimely end, and given my job,” he gestured out to the attraction and T.J. laughed. 

“I’m introduced around noon tomorrow, and I’ll be ‘put to rest’ at eight.”

“If I survive the rest of the day, tomorrow I’m free as a bird.”

“Then maybe I’ll see the one thousand and first happy haunt,” T.J. said, and he climbed out of the boat and left the area. Cyrus put up a hand signal for his coordinator requesting a small bathroom break, and the coordinator gave the hand signal for Iris to take over for him and let him go. Cyrus would not have made it another tour without blushing like a madman. 

* * *

“You’re not scared of the Haunted Mansion anymore?” Buffy asked, as she walked with him and Andi to the scary yet beautiful looking house at the end of Liberty Square. 

“A little, but I’m willing to give it a try,” he said. All of them had Mickey and Minnie ears on, ready to look cute for all the pictures since Buffy was in photopass and could get them for free. 

“This didn’t have anything to do with the cute boy in your boat yesterday, does it?” Andi asked, nudging him. He blushed and hid. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” he said. “I just decided it’s time to see the mansion since people say it’s not actually scary.”

“Uh huh? You really want us to believe that?” Buffy asked.

“I want you to shut up,” Cyrus said. “Besides, he’s probably straight. He was with a girl the entire time. Blonde, pretty, way out of all of our leagues...if she works here, she’s gotta be a Princess Friend or something.”

“Okay,” Andi said. “If you insist…” they tapped their magic bands with the maid at the front of the ride and went all the way up to the doors. Cyrus looked down at his watch and Buffy and Andi exchanged knowing glances. 

“There’s like four hundred roles inside the mansion. You might see him inside…” Buffy said. 

“I’m not looking for him.” 

“Cyrus, seriously…” Andi was about to say more when the doors opened and a boy in a butler suit and a red tag saying “earning my ears” underneath his name tag. The name tag said his name was T.J. from Shadyside, MW...wait, they were from the same place? 

“Welcome...to the Haunted Mansion...please...make your way inside,” he said slowly with a drawl. He gave a quick upturn of the corner of his lips to Cyrus, letting him know that he recognized him before going back into character. The ghost host started his spiel and T.J. made his way to the right side of the room. He waited for one of the walls to slide open before calling out to everyone in the main parlor. “Please make your way to the portrait gallery and stand in the dead center of the room please!” When Cyrus started walking towards the room, T.J. whispered quickly into his and his friends ears, “Go to the portrait of the lady with the parasol.” Buffy raised an eyebrow at him and then they all decided to trust the butler boy and go to that side. T.J. was the last to walk. “Step away from the walls please!”

He walked around as Cyrus and his friends started talking, and it was clear that Cyrus was nervous. “First time visiting the mansion?” He asked from behind him. Cyrus jumped a little turned around. 

“I’m a bit of a scaredy cat. Mickey’s Not So Scary is too scary,” he said blushing. 

“And yet you face boas and hippos,” T.J. smiled back. “Don’t worry, the only dangerous spook is Madame Constance Hatchaway, and she only kills her own potential suitors. Anything to worry about there?”

“Not at all...she’s not my type…” Buffy and Andi exchanged a look. 

“Mine either.” The ghost host started talking and T.J. put something in Cyrus’s hand before continuing his position, walking around the room and watching the speech for the millionth time since he started training. 

Cyrus frowned and screamed a little when the lights cut out and the door opened behind him. That’s why T.J. told him to go to that portrait, it was the closest to the door. He grabbed Andi and Buffy and made his way with them to the main line onto the Doom Buggies when he finally got a look at the note written on receipt paper. 

“Is that CDS Rotation?” Andi asked. CDS stood for Cast Deployment System, and it was where they clocked in and saw what position they were taking during rotation. The name T.J. Kippen to Stretching Room 1 was circled and on the back was a phone number along with a message.  _ E.R. Approved for 1900. Dinner at Tony’s? _

“Wow,” Buffy said. “He got an Early Release for you?”

“You don’t know that it’s for me...but this is for me…” he took out his phone and texted the number left on the receipt paper. 

_ -This is Skipper Cyrus Goodman. Dinner sounds great.- _

“And you two are going to be far, far away,” he told them as they all squeezed into a Doom Buggy. 

“We’ll grab dinner at a quick service,” Buffy promised, but knowing her best friend and holding out her hand for him to hold. He took it gratefully.

* * *

Cyrus waited at the entrance to Tony’s Town Square restaurant when he saw T.J. jogging up to the doors at 7:30. “I am so sorry!” He said panting. “I got lost in the tunnels and I had to find the changing room to put on my guest clothes and lock my locker again…”

“It’s fine,” Cyrus said smiling. “I know what the tunnels are like, and the whole clocking out fiasco.”

“It wasn’t like this at my old location, I swear,” he said, going to the guy at the reservation desk, smiling at him and sharing a handshake. 

“Was this your old location?” Cyrus asked.

“No, we both worked Tower, but he transferred here. Said the hours were better.”

“Wait…” Cyrus laughed. “You went from Tower of Terror to Haunted Mansion. Were you purposefully looking for places you don’t have to smile at Disney World?”

He laughed. “I was looking for more A/C actually. There are more outdoor roles in Tower than there are in Mansion and neither have shorts.”

“You should have done a cruise like me,” he said with a laugh. “Shorts all day.”

“I’m not funny enough for the cruise, or smart enough for safaris,” he joked. 

“Don’t say that. You were a pretty epic captain yesterday.” 

The seater, Daryl, took them over to a table right under a painting of Lady and the Tramp. “Have fun dude.”

“Thanks man.”

“Thanks Daryl,” Cyrus smiled and took the menu. “So...the heat is what made you transfer from Tower to Mansion?”

“That...and the one dollar pay raise all MK Cast get,” he laughed. “I need to pay for books.”

“UCF?” Cyrus asked. 

“Yes, but far away from the film department,” T.J. said with a light blush. “I’m an Early Education Major, with a minor in Music.”

“That’s impressive,” Cyrus said. “I minor in psychology, but mostly for the GPA boost. My parents are psychologists.”

“So you have two people to do your homework?”

“Four,” Cyrus said. “Child of divorce and my parents have clear types.” 

T.J. laughed. “Are you this funny off the cruise all the time, or are the hidden Mickeys influencing you?”

“I’m just fooling you into thinking I’m funny because you feel sorry for me,” Cyrus said. “Tiny boy who was too scared of the Haunted Mansion?”

“Meet the tall boy who has trouble with math and played basketball for school money,” he said. 

“You’re a student athlete?!” Cyrus was shocked. “How are you doing that AND working at Disney? Our commute alone is like an hour!”

“I’m not one anymore. Threw out my knee and now I’m working for book money and rent while my mom covers the tuition. It’s a stretch but it can pay off since this upcoming semester will be covered in full by Disney Scholarships.”

“Aspire...smart butler.”

“I am a former bellhop too,” he laughed. “What about you? You didn’t start off as a Skipper, did you?” 

“No,” he said. “I started in actual hell. That’s actually where I met Buffy and Andi, the friends you saw me with.”

“Define Hell, because Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride has been gone a while,” he joked.

“Starbucks at Epcot. FountainView.”

“The ones who wore black wool pants in a greenhouse? That’s painful!” T.J. winced. 

“Absolutely. Every chance I could, I traded shifts for Trolley Car before they changed Costumes. Give me a Bow Tie and a suspenders any day.”

“I went to Starbucks for my breaks occasionally,” T.J. said. “Maybe you made my drink once or twice...Remember the name T.J.?”

“Honestly? I’ve blocked out everything that has to do with Starbucks. I can’t even smell coffee anymore without gagging.” 

He laughed and they gave their order to the waiter that came, and kept talking afterwards, their hands slowly inching closer and touching by the time they shared a dessert.

* * *

“You know...if we pay now and head out...we can still make it for fireworks.”

“You know...I still haven’t seen the fireworks show here at MK,” T.J. said. “I’ve seen Fantasmic about a million times from closing Tower, but not here.”

“Oh my god, I’m about to change your life!” Cyrus said, taking his hand after paying it and leading him out. T.J. looked at him from behind and smiled. He was really cute and he liked this boy. This boy had more energy than Mickey and Stitch combined, and more goodness than Winnie the Pooh. Maybe he did work at Disney for too long already, but he didn’t care. He would extend several more years if things went well with Cyrus. 

They had talked about everything over dinner, and T.J. saw he was easy to talk to. He told Cyrus that the blonde girl was his sister Amber, who was a character attendant stationed in Animal Kingdom, and learned that Buffy was a photographer who stayed at Epcot and Andi was a caricature artist in Magic Kingdom, and that they were definitely going to meet Cyrus at the Monorail once the fireworks show was over. 

“So, this show is called Happily Ever After,” Cyrus said. “And it’s about all types of happily ever after in Disney and in life, with family, friends…”

“Prince Charming?” T.J. asked, smiling and Cyrus blushed, finding them a good place to see it, right in front of the Partners statue. 

“Technically yes...but it’s about more than that..the true love thing,” he said. T.J. adjusted their hands so that their fingers were intertwined and Cyrus looked down at them, his heart pounding, but totally unaware that T.J.’s was about to jump out of his chest. 

“Can’t wait to see it.”

The lights dimmed and the music started blaring over the speakers, and Cyrus jumped a little, happily. “This is so much better than Wishes…” 

T.J. watched in awe as the castle seemed to actually come alive, and not metaphorically. It changed colors, seemed to sing along at times, turned into lego blocks when the Toy Story characters came around. 

He cried when he saw the “destroyed castle” repair itself, and wiped his eyes in awe, he never thought he would cry at a Disney Fireworks show...but maybe the Jungle Cruise Skipper clinging onto his arm was changing his views. 

Finally the castle was gearing up for the finale, and after he saw Tinkerbell (actually his friend William. He loved joking around with the guys about getting into a wig and light up costume as he ‘danced’ across the sky in a zip-line), he looked down and saw Cyrus looking up at him. 

As corny as it sounded, it was like the world around him was muted, the fireworks were just lighting up Cyrus’s face, and he swore he was starting to go up on his toes. T.J. gulped and raised his hand to gently cup his cheek. Cyrus nodded when it made contact and they both looked nervous, like the fireworks were exploding in their stomachs, not in the Florida night sky behind the Cinderella castle. 

When Cyrus’s other hand made its way to T.J.’s waist, he knew that was his moment and he leaned in, Cyrus meeting him the rest of the way and they kissed right as the chorus started to play. He couldn’t have scripted it better if he wanted to, having his first kiss with a cute boy right when fireworks exploded above them and an invisible choir sung over them. 

**“Happily Ever After!!!!!”**


	2. Chapter 2

“Alright, and big smiles! Big smiles!” Buffy snapped pictures of happy families down Hollywood Blvd in front of the Chinese theater. She was trying to ignore the rumbling in her stomach, knowing it was almost three and she’s been working since nine in the morning. But she had the rotten luck of having Kira as her coordinator today, and Kira was delaying her lunch break for as long as legally possible. “Alright, and…” she started playing with the phone hanging off her belt then looked back up at the family. “Okay so dad, I want you to hold your right hand up in the air, and stand on your tiptoes, right, perfect! Now everyone else, grab onto him like you’re holding him down from flying away...and wow, perfect!” She laughed a little as they all put on fake scared faces and she kept snapping pictures. “Alright, that was awesome!” She had them come forward and tapped their magic band with the phone, and sent them on their way. 

Right as the next family was about to come forward, she saw Leo, another photopass photographer, come forward and hand her a slip. Finally, Kira had given her the ‘kindness’ of allowing a 30 minute lunch break. They started the process of swapping out cameras on the tripod, with Buffy promising that her good friend Leo was going to take over for her in just a minute. Finally she grabbed the little receipt paper that gave her the glorious news: “Buffy Driscoll, take 30 minute lunch.” She had to restrain herself from running while she was onstage, going backstage to the lockers behind the Trolley Car Cafe, where Photopass and the Starbucks cast members shared lockers and a fridge, and grabbed her wallet from her locker of the day before going back onstage, crossing across Sunset Blvd, and heading backstage again to the cast cafeteria and break room. 

“Hey, it’s the shutterbug.” Buffy rolled her eyes and turned around to see Marty from Jackson City, MW walk through the door behind her. 

“Boulder for brains, been a while,” she teased back. She’d seen Marty on several occasions while working, and they’d sometimes talk whenever they were in line for food. He worked as a seater for the Indiana Jones live show, most of the time, which is why she called him a boulder, like the one at the beginning of the show. 

“Not a boulder today. They needed more bodies over at the Hyperion, so I’m one of Elsa’s snowflakes.”

“Do they actually call you guys that there?” 

“Oh not at all. I tried to get the ball rolling...but maybe that’s the Indy in me.”

“Hilarious, you have more puns than a Jungle Cruise Skipper,” she rolled her eyes, but a small smile danced on her lips. “You’re not sharing a meal with your partner in crime?”

“No, he transferred over to Magic, meaning I’m all on my lonesome. Especially since my other roommate is stuck in DAK Pizzafari.”

“How’s that there?”

“Jonah hates it with a burning passion and checks the Hub on a near hourly basis on TransferGenie. He says he’d rather clean bathrooms in custodial than serve another shitty pizza.”

“I can’t blame him, I worked food and bev when I started here too, and I still have nightmares,” she said with a laugh. 

“What did you do?”

“I was over at Fountainview back when it existed.”

“Oof...Epcot Starbucks, that’s like, the second busiest one after Magic.”

“No kidding,” she said with a shudder. “I met my friends there, and we all transferred out as soon as we were eligible. I’m the only one statused outside of Magic though.”

“Yeah, well now I’m the only one statused in Studios,” he said. “So I know the struggle. I told my roommate that he would be all alone by transferring, but just my luck, he starts dating another Magic CM like, on his first day.”

“Aww, now you’re completely alone,” she said. “I actually never met this mysterious friend of yours.” 

“Yeah, I normally bought our food and ate with him in the break room in Tower. Now he’s a butler at Mansion.”

“Wait…” she paused, connecting a few dots and looking at Marty, then she brought out her phone and looked up the picture Cyrus gave her from a couple of weeks ago, when they both decided to get a picture with a lantern near the Tangled bathrooms and showed Marty the picture. “Is your friend T.J. Kippen?” 

Marty’s eyes widened and he grabbed the phone. “Oh my god, yes! You know him?!”

“I met him on his first day at Mansion. Cyrus is my friend at Jungle Cruise, and he told me the story about flirting with the cute boy on his boat who flirted back, and we all went to the Mansion the next day on our day off, and I even saw the CDS slip where T.J. asked him out. It was ridiculously cute.”

“Oh my god, you’re friends with Cyrus Goodman. I haven’t officially met the dude yet, but from all the stories T.J. tells me, he seems awesome.”

“He is,” she said with a smile. “I mean, he’s one of my best friends, and I haven’t seen T.J. since that day, but I made Cyrus read him a riot act I texted him of how I’ll kill T.J. if he hurts my best friend.”

“I could do the same to Cyrus,” Marty said. 

“Yeah, the instant Cyrus looks at you and opens his mouth, you’d realize that he’s the kid who cries if he kills a spider by accident.”

“So...zero worries on him hurting T.J.”

“He’s literally incapable of hurting anyone,” Buffy said. “It’s crazy our best friends are the ones who like each other though.” 

“Meanwhile here we are, talking to each other daily while we wait for our Subway sandwiches,” Marty said. “Maybe there’s fate coded in here somewhere.”

“Marty from Jackson City, are you asking me out?” Buffy asked, crossing her arms over her camera. He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. 

“Maybe…”

“Maybe?”

“It depends on your answer. If you want to go out with me, then I am, Buffy from Shadyside.”

“And if I said no?”

“Then I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m simply saying that it’s a crazy coincidence that our best friends are dating.”

She laughed and picked up her sandwich and waited for him to pick his up before they went to pay at the cash register. “And tell me, what would you have planned for a date?”

“I’m going to take you to Disney World,” he said with a shit-eating grin. 

“You mean the place we both get in for free?”

“It’s still a date at Disney World, isn’t it?” 

“Alright, what park?” She asked, as they paid. 

“You want the whole details of this date before accepting to go?”

“I gotta see if it’s worth it.”

“Alright, well Magic Kingdom would be cheesy, especially since our boys did that already, right down to the magical kiss at the fireworks show. I’d say…Animal Kingdom. Safari Ride, Everest...Flight of Passage in Pandora right as it’s getting dark, and...Rivers of Light to end the night.” 

“I gotta say, you see to know how to make a girl feel special.”

“So?”

“So...my next day off is Tuesday, if my coordinator doesn’t kill me first.” She started taking out her wallet when Marty swooped in and paid for both of their sandwiches. “Hey! I can pay for myself, you know!”

“How about you pay me back with coffee tomorrow then?” He said. “I just succeeded in asking you out, so let me celebrate this small victory by being a gentleman.”

“Alright, I’ll stop by Starbucks tomorrow before work. Text me your order.” She smiled before heading out again and sitting at the picnic table just behind the Trolley Car Cafe. Marty waited for her to be gone before fist-pumping the air and jumping a little. He quickly saw some Green Army Men in just makeup and grey shirts stare at him weirdly before he cleared his throat and composed himself.

* * *

“Thanks for the ride Andi,” Buffy said, getting out of the car as her best friend pulled into the ‘RideShare' lane at Animal Kingdom. 

“No problem, though why didn’t you let Marty just pick you up?”

“Because, just in case he’s a total creep, I don’t want him knowing where our apartment is,” she said. “If the date goes sour, I’m taking a Cast Bus over to Vista Way and I’ll wait for you or Cyrus at Libby’s apartment.”

“Alright...but if this is T.J.’s friend, and based on the way Cyrus describes T.J...I’m sure this is going to be great.”

“I’m hoping for the best,” she said. “This is just in case. If the date does go well, don’t worry, Marty’ll take me home.”

“Alright, well, have fun...wait,” she made Buffy lean in again and adjusted the Giraffe patterned Minnie ears on her head. “There, you’re looking cute.” 

“I always look cute,” she said, giving Andi a hug before stepping out and heading to the Lion King photo opp station, texting Marty that she was there. A few minutes later, Marty jogged over from the parking lot. 

“Hey, sorry about that, they made me park really far back and the tram wasn’t going to come anytime soon...good thing I was a track star in high school.”

“You were? What was your time?”

“Eleven point five,” he said with a confident smile. 

“Impressive. Bet I can beat that.”

“Really?” He said. “I was the fastest boy on my team.”

“And I was the fastest overall in my high school,” She said. 

“Well...I booked us fast passes on Everest that open up in fifteen minutes...race there?”

“Winner buys loser soft serve,” she said. 

“Count it off.” 

She smiled and looked at him, before counting down from “Ready, Set, Go!” and the two sprinted off through the park, past the first few habitations that lay before Discovery Island, and past the Tree of Life and into Asia, all the way into the line of Everest with Buffy pulling in front at the last second. “Looks like you owe me ice cream, Boulder-head.” 

“It appears that I do,” he said with a smile. “It’ll be worth it though.”

* * *

“We are going to the shitty pizza place?” Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s one of the few places here with a cast discount,” he said. “Perfect for a snack!”

“And perfect for showing your other roommate that I am, in fact, a real girl and not a figment of your imagination?”

“Figment is for Epcot...and his newest ride is terrible. Disney messed up by changing the old one,” he said, leading her through the line until they got at the Kiosk where a cast member was taking the other side’s order. Then he looked over and his perfect Disney smile faded. 

“I hate you.”

“Hi Jonah! This is Buffy, the photopass girl I was telling you about. Buffy, this is one of my roommates, Jonah.”

“Nice to meet you, I apologize on his behalf,” he said. 

“I’ve known him long enough at Studios to get what he’s like,” she said. 

“Oh! Here’s the crazy part!” Marty said. “Her best friend is Cyrus Goodman!”

“Cyrus Goodman as in T.J.’s Jungle Cruise boyfriend?” He asked. 

“There’s no other,” Buffy said. “I know, small world...no pun intended.”

“And yet the song is now stuck in my head,” he groaned. “And I listen to Hakuna Mattata every fifteen minutes.”

“Alright, before I get your coordinator to yell at you…” Marty said. 

“Yeah, Food and Bev coordinators are ridiculously strict about conversation times,” Jonah said. 

“I know,” Buffy said. “Former Fountainview.”

“I am so sorry!” He said with a tiny laugh. “What am I feeding you guys?”

“Garlic knots and some sodas?”

“You got it.” Jonah punched in the order and scanned the credit card and Cast Member ID before giving them their receipt and sending them on their way. “Next date I have, I’m taking her to Studios and I’m gonna run you over with a boulder.”

“Or you might subject me to your Justin Bieber Boy Band version of ‘Let it Go,’” Marty shot back as he and Buffy started walking away. “That would be real torture!” 

* * *

“You sure know how to woo a girl,” Buffy said. “Taking her to a two hour long line.”

“It’s Pandora. We’re lucky to get it at two hours instead of four. And it’s the best ride in the parks.”

“I could say that thrill rides are better,” she said. “But this is the prettiest.”

“You’re telling me you would prefer doing Everest again than do F.O.P?”

“Maybe I would 11.5,” she said. “But maybe I just like messing with you,” she said as they finally reached the front of the line and were sent into the Pre-show room. Marty let Buffy go in front of him as they followed the weird instructions of the most unenthusiastic actor giving the ride background. 

“Say what you want, but the pre-show at Dinosaur is better,” Buffy said as they got their glasses and moved into the motorcycle ride seats. They didn’t say much as the ride attendant put the seat restraints up and checked them, and didn’t really talk much during their “banshee flight,” but right when they were inside the cave they started to glow, Marty felt another hand wrap around his on the handlebars. 

He smiled and adjusted his grip, linking their fingers together and holding her hand throughout the rest of the ride.

* * *

“Maybe I’m biased, but I think there should be an Indiana Jones ride here like there is at Disneyland in California,” Marty said, handing one of two Mickey ice cream bars to Buffy.

“You know it’s the same thing as Dinosaur, right?” She unwrapped her ice cream and started eating it.

“Yeah, but if Universal can have both Spider-Man and Transformers, AND Fast and Furious and Kong, then we can add the Indy ride here.”

“Why not add cars while we’re at it? It’s the same as Test Track.”

“Why not exactly?!”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah! I mean, dodging asteroids is fun and all, but don’t tell me you wouldn’t have fun outrunning a boulder Indiana Jones-style?”

“All I know is that it’s starting to get dark already. Does that mean we have to head to Rivers of Light?”

“Yeah, here, Jonah showed me a shortcut,” he said, taking her hand again and leading her through some crowds and down to where people were sitting for the show. 

“So, the one non-firework firework show,” Buffy said sitting down. “What are your intentions, good sir?”

“What? Can’t a guy just want to show a girl a good time?”

“You’re saying you don’t want to kiss me?”

“Are you saying you want me to kiss you during the show?”

“I haven’t made up my mind.”

“Anything I can do to help you decide?” He said, looking at her. She studied his face before she grabbed him by the shirt collar and kissed him. He was a little surprised at first, but he relaxed into the kiss, putting an arm around her and holding her gently. 

They slowly pulled apart after a while and she smirked up at him. “I wasn’t going to have my first kiss with you be a total cliché, Jackson City.”

“That’s why you kissed me before the show?”

“Yes, now why don’t you put your arm around me and maybe you’ll get a second one at the end.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it! Please comment either here or on Tumblr! Reply, Message me, Reblog, I don’t care! I love hearing reactions so damn much!!!!


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